Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

 NurglesR0T wrote:
So.. in cover against a heavy bolter the PM get a 3+ save and 5+DR, whilst cultists... get nothing?? Yeah, I can totally see how they are much more survivable

PM's are tougher, have the option for specialised weapons for any situation barring long range anti-tank which the army theme as a whole suffers from. Cultists have nothing but S3 autoguns and maybe a flamer or two that you might get to shoot as long as the enemy ignores them.

If you had included my full quote you would have seen that I openly said PM will not carry the game for you on their own. They synergise with the rest of the army and provide much needed support to the rest of the heavy hitters that will do most of the work.

Remember that two plague marines cost almost as much as an entire unit of cultists. From a BS 3+ model, 9 heavy bolter shots to kill one PM on average. It kills four cultists. Four cultists are cheaper than a single plague marine. Thus, the heavy bolter is more effective vs plague marines in the open than cultists in the open.

I still have no idea why people think we lack for anti tank. We have quite efficient anti tank. Las predators are slight more expensive but far tougher havocs, the new crawler is even tougher than that and as efficient per point offensively, only a little worse vs toughness 8. We've got helbrutes and drones which mulch any tank not being screened by infantry, and deepstriking plasma terminators that the enemy will struggle to kill. Anti tank is a niche our army has covered I am legitimately unsure why people think we can't do this. Anti infantry though? Ehhh... the new flamer drone is unexceptional in this regard but is probably our best choice outside cultists with autoguns, who our tactic works well for. We've also got some FW stuff that works, particular helbrutes. This is why melee PM, who can clear infantry much better than their ranged brothers, are probably the best way to field PM. Maybe with a couple plague flamers.

They don't really synergize very well with the army? Melee ones work well with mortarion and the putrifier can boost the grenade stratagem for such a squad, but outside that... kinda meh. They probably should work with the haulers but that seems a bit of a trap right now, a rhino is better at getting them where they want to go safely and the guns aren't worth it on the hauler. The apothecary might help if his ability was a joke. Tallyman again boosts melee PM, though generally he's a bit redundant in that regard if mortarion is on the field.

I'm not arguing because I hate them, they were my go to troops in earlier editions. It is just that PM are a really niche unit right now and we have a lot of better options.